


take a sip from the devil's cup

by seothsayers



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Demonic Possession, Exorcist Johnny, Johnny has an eyebrow piercing, M/M, Mark Lee (NCT) is a Panicked Gay, Minor Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:34:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25990654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seothsayers/pseuds/seothsayers
Summary: In a twisted way, Mark is kind of glad Donghyuck managed to get himself possessed. If he hadn't, Mark would never have met Johnny Seo.
Relationships: Mark Lee/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 14
Kudos: 172





	take a sip from the devil's cup

**Author's Note:**

> me: what if johnny had an eyebrow piercing  
> this fic: hello
> 
> written to (and title from) kim petras' turn off the light album

In Mark’s defence, the reason he didn’t immediately notice Donghyuck was possessed is because he is always a pain in the ass. Possessed Donghyuck was doing all the things regular Donghyuck did – leaving a mess in the kitchen sink, staying up until dawn, constantly insulting Mark, it was really hard to tell the difference.

At least, that is what Mark tells himself when he traps Donghyuck in a pentagram at three in the morning after waking up to see him standing over Mark’s bed with a sacrificial blade. Thank fuck for Taeyong and his protection amulets – Mark hadn’t wanted to wear the gaudy old locket at first but it had gotten him out of a pickle more than once now, so he never took it off. 

Now that he is paying attention, Mark can see the differences. The twisted grin a little too sinister for Donghyuck’s pretty face, the vacant look in his eyes when they aren’t clouded black and the faint smell of brimstone that clouds the air are all dead giveaways that his best friend is living with an intruder in his body. Mark feels like an idiot for not noticing. It’s so obvious.

It takes seven rings for Doyoung to pick up the phone. He sounds grouchy, snapping, “Mark, what the fuck?” when he answers. On any other occasion, it would send a bolt of fear down his spine, but this was an emergency and Mark couldn’t think about anything other than the demon staring him down.

“Donghyuck’s been possessed by a demon and he tried to kill me in my sleep.” Mark blurts out. “Please help me.”

There is a pause and then a long sigh. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” Doyoung says, and then he hangs up.

The fifteen minutes it takes for Doyoung to show up feels like a lifetime. Mark is reluctant to leave Donghyuck alone, paranoid he’ll break through the pentagram even though Mark aced his Trapping Demons 101 class last semester. Doyoung looks harried when Mark answers the door, a hoodie pulled over the top of his pyjamas, bedhead in full effect.

“Where is he?” Doyoung asks.

“My room.” Mark gestures down the hall.

Doyoung peers around the door and then closes it again with a sigh. “I texted a friend. He’s better equipped to deal with this than I am. He should be here soon.”

Doyoung makes himself comfortable in the kitchen, putting on the kettle. He is eerily calm, decidedly un-Doyoung for a situation of this level, and Mark briefly wonders whether he has been possessed too. Maybe this was a test and he’s failed it, massively.

It’s not long before the doorbell goes again. Doyoung is pouring hot water into four mugs. “Can you get that? I’m busy.”

Mark grumbles all the way to the door. He opens it and immediately almost chokes on his own spit. On the other side is a man, about Doyoung’s age. He is dressed like he’s headed to the Institute – distressed jeans, a faded band t-shirt and a fitted leather jacket with a brown satchel hanging over his left shoulder. Finally, and most importantly in Mark’s opinion, is the eyebrow piercing.

 _Oh no._ Mark thinks. _He’s hot_.

The pierced eyebrow lifts slightly, and the man looks at him, amused. “This is the house with the possessed kid, right?” He asks. “I’m a friend of Kim Doyoung’s.”

“Uhhh yeah this is the house.” Mark clears his throat. “It’s my roommate that’s possessed.”

“Great.” The man says. When Mark shows no sign of moving, he adds, “Can I come in?”

“Oh shit, yeah, sorry.” Mark stumbles backwards, moving out of the doorway. “Come on in.”

The man smiles – he has a great smile – and steps inside. “Johnny!” Doyoung appears in the hallway. “Thanks for coming. Tea?”

“Please.”

They disappear into the kitchen leaving Mark alone in the hallway. He shuts the front door and leans his head against it, exhaling slowly. _Priorities, Mark Lee_ . He tells himself. _Yes, Johnny is hot and yes you probably look like you’ve just crawled out of hell backwards but there are more important things to be worried about._

“Mark?” Doyoung calls.

Mark makes his way into the kitchen. Johnny has shrugged off his jacket and set his satchel down on the kitchen table. His arms are toned and Mark can see inked skin when Johnny moves, hidden by his shirt. Mark takes the mug of tea Doyoung offers him and scalds his tongue as he gulps it down. Maybe the steam will cleanse away his horny thoughts.

“Shall we get started?” Johnny asks, turning to Mark.

“Sure.” Doyoung looks over in Mark’s direction.

“Uh. Follow me?” Mark speeds out of the room and down the hallway.

Donghyuck is exactly where Mark left him. The demon looks bored, but he sits up straight when the room starts to fill up, the sinister smile returning.

Over the course of the next hour, Mark learns a lot of things about Johnny. He is a PhD student at the Institute, and he specialises in exorcism and banishment. He is writing his thesis on the Chaos Years, with a focus on the intricacies of the underground sorcerer movement. Johnny and Doyoung know each other through Taeyong – Johnny was Taeyong’s roommate in first year. Exorcisms are actually more complicated than they look, and Mark finally understands why his professors recommend not to try this at home (or that if they do, they have an expert on hand to help deal with the situation). It takes forty minutes, several vials of holy water and a complicated Latin invocation before the demon is absorbed into Mark’s pentagram and Donghyuck is released.

Donghyuck gasps for air, taking the tea Doyoung offers him. It’s cold now, but Donghyuck gulps it down anyway. Being possessed is thirsty business apparently.

When he’s done, Donghyuck crawls out of the pentagram straight towards Mark. The look on his face combined with the circumstances of the situation sends a chill down his spine. Donghyuck grabs Mark by the shoulders, shaking him violently. “You’re such a bastard!” Donghyuck says. “I was possessed for two whole weeks! How did you not notice?”

“Ouch – Hyuck, I’m sorry! I’m sorry.” Mark shoves Donghyuck backwards. The guilt comes pouring back. “People don’t get possessed everyday, I just didn’t think… I didn’t think.”

“How did it happen anyway?” Doyoung asks, curious.

Donghyuck has the decency to look sheepish. “Well, I took this book out from the library and there was a _little_ summoning spell at the back, and I didn’t think it would do me any harm so –”

“Lee Donghyuck you are lucky I love you.” Doyoung mutters, standing. “I’m going back to bed. Thanks Johnny.”

“Yeah, thanks Johnny.” Donghyuck pulls himself to his feet and grins at Johnny. “I have a vacancy for a best friend position open, you are welcome to apply. I give great hugs and would be happy to exchange them as payment for free exorcisms.”

Johnny laughs, standing up beside Doyoung. “I’ll consider it.”

“I’m only annoying like 85% of the time!” Donghyuck says as he trails after them down the hall. “I’m doing you a favour really!”

Mark follows them. “Is that really it? I’ve read about the aftereffects of possession before, can’t they be pretty intense?” Mark leaves out the part where he had a nightmare about how some powerful demons latch onto their hosts' souls even after they’ve been exorcised and slowly come back and take over. He shivers and wraps his fingers around the sleeve of Donghyuck’s pyjamas.

Johnny nods. “They can, but it differs from person to person. I’ll have Doyoung send you my details, don’t hesitate to shoot me a message if anything out of the ordinary happens, okay? I’ll catch up with you properly in about two weeks. The side effects should have passed by then.”

“Thanks.” Mark feels relieved.

“Night guys.” Doyoung says, opening the door. “Stay out of trouble!”

“Nice meeting you both.” Johnny waves goodbye.

Donghyuck shuts the door behind them and turns on Mark. “You’re buying me lunch every day for the next two weeks and I expect apology cuddles when I demand them, starting now.” He demands.

Mark sighs but acquiesces. 

🌕🌕🌕

All things considered, Donghyuck deals with the fact he was possessed pretty well. It’s definitely because it was partially his fault. Donghyuck is still bitter that it took near-death for Mark to notice, but the fruit smoothies Mark has been buying him to mask the smell of his brimstone burps seems to be helping. Being possessed made you gassy, apparently. Mark files that away for future reference.

Doyoung had forwarded them both Johnny’s number, but there hadn’t been any need to message him. Donghyuck side effects were all manageable, and while they joke around about what happened, they’d had a long, open talk about how Donghyuck was coping with it all, where Mark apologised ten times over for not noticing sooner. Things were good.

With the guilt starting to fade, Mark’s brain was filled with other fun thoughts. Namely, Johnny. 

There had been a few times when Mark had stared at the contact in his phone and tossed up the pros and cons of sending Johnny a message.

(Pros:

  * Johnny was interesting and even if Mark chickened out of flirting, he would learn a lot
  * He was friends with both Doyoung and Taeyong so Mark already trusted him
  * Johnny was hot. He had an eyebrow piercing, for Christ’s sake. And tattoos! 



Cons:

  * They had met once and it wasn’t exactly in meet-cute circumstances 
  * Mark had no idea how to start a conversation with him what wasn’t about Donghyuck’s possession
  * Mark was a scaredy cat and making the first move was hard
  * If Mark _did_ make a move and he got rejected, he would have to drop out of the Institute and move to the other side of the world because the magic community round here was very small and they would definitely run into each other again, _especially_ since they had mutual friends



Conclusion: Mark doesn’t message Johnny.)

It’s pure chance that he is with Donghyuck on the day Johnny stops by their table in the library. Mark has his headphones on, nodding away as he reads over the chapter on hierarchy in _Demons: A History_ , so he doesn’t notice Johnny approaching. He lifts his head to ask Donghyuck a question and jumps in his seat when he realises Johnny is sat opposite him.

Johnny smiles, amused, and Mark feels like he’s been punched in the gut.

“Oh, hey, I didn’t notice you there.” Mark says, pulling his headphones down around his neck. The tinny sound of Red Velvet plays and mark flushes as he turns down the sound on his phone. “How long have you been sitting there?”

“About ten minutes now.” Johnny says. “Hyuck messaged me. It’s been two weeks so I wanted to see how he was doing.” _Hyuck_?

“Where is he?” Mark frowns, looking around. “I didn’t even realise he’d gotten up from the table.”

“He went to go grab another drink from the vending machine.” Johnny says. “How are you doing Mark?”

“Me?” Mark points at his chest.

“Yes you.” Johnny smiles. “Donghyuck says you have been feeling guilty about everything.”

Mark looks down at his book and starts to fiddle with his pen. “Wouldn’t you if it took you two weeks to realise the person you lived with, your best friend, had been possessed?”

“I understand,” Johnny says. “There’s nothing wrong with feeling guilty. Just don’t let it eat you up. These things happen sometimes.”

“I feel better now than I did before.” Mark tells him. “It’s easier now Hyuckie is doing better.”

“Good.” Johnny smiles. “What are you reading?”

“It’s demon princes and hierarchy. I decided to do my final year project on the structural organisation of Hell so I’ve been getting up close and personal with handsome faces like this.” Mark points at the sketch of the demon on the page in front of him, ripped, red and foaming at the mouth. “Hot, right?” He jokes.

“My ideal man.” Johnny grins. “That’s really interesting though. Why’d you pick Hell?”

Mark shrugs. “I just find it interesting. Why did you pick the Chaos Wars for your thesis?”

“I’m a big fan of underground rebellions.” Johnny says. “Nothing like the proletariat shaking up the system.”

Johnny is an easy conversationalist. As they keep talking, Mark feels himself relax a little. He seems genuinely interested in Mark’s studies, and the more Johnny talks about his thesis, the more interested Mark in hearing about it. Almost an hour has passed before Mark realises Donghyuck still hasn’t returned. All his stuff is still on the table, so he can’t be too far. “It doesn’t take an hour to get something from the vending machine.” Mark says. 

Johnny, who had pulled out his own laptop at some point, looks up, fingers still flying away on his keyboard. “He’s probably bumped into someone he knows. This place is full of familiar faces at this time of year.”

Mark pulls out his phone and sends him a text.

**[15:54] You alive?**

Donghyuck responds a few minutes later.

**[15:57] Hhahaha you’re so funny**

**[15:57] In the cafe with Renjun, he brought me a late lunch**

**[15:57] How's your date with Johnny?** **😊**

Mark frowns.

**[15:58] Did you plan this??????????????**

**[16:00] Unlike you, I actually notice things**

**[16:00] Your Johnny boner was very obvious**

**[16:01] Fuck you**

**[16:01] 😘**

“Is he okay?” Johnny asks. He looks over his laptop screen and all Mark can see is his eyebrow piercing.

Mark shoves his phone back into his pocket. “Yup! I’m going to kill him later, but what’s new?”

Johnny laughs quietly – conscious of volume in the library in the midst of deadlines? Mark can feel his crush growing by the second – and says, solemnly, “I’ll pray for him.”

Mark’s heart skips a beat. He’s screwed.

🌕🌕🌕

“What’s new dude?” Yukhei asks, clinking their beer bottles together. 

Mark was at Yukhei, Kunhang and Dejun’s shared apartment. He had handed in his proposal and gotten good feedback, stayed in the library until 4am one too many times with Donghyuck and now it was time to relax. Donghyuck had disappeared with Renjun not long after they had arrived – a new and interesting development Mark had yet to pry the details from him about – leaving Mark to get drunk on cheap beer and tequila shots.

“Oh y’know, not much.” Mark says. “Just trying to get through this project. What about you?”

“Ugh I don’t even want to think about mine.” Yukhei says. “Who decides to write about fourteenth century invocations? Only me.”

“Yeah dude, that one’s all on you.” Mark laughs.

“It’s been so long since we hung out though, I missed your face.” Yukhei reaches out to squeeze one of Mark’s cheeks. “Let’s get pizza next week.”

Mark doesn’t get the chance to respond. Renjun comes flying out of one of the bedrooms, eyes wide as he runs over to Mark. “It’s Donghyuck, he’s –”

Mark is already running. Donghyuck’s lying on his back, Jeno on one side, Jaemin on the other. His whole body is shaking as he thrashes about in their grip.

“What the fuck happened?” Mark asks.

“Nothing – seriously, he just started acting strange out of nowhere.” Jaemin says. 

Donghyuck’s eyes roll back into his head and they cloud over black. Mark stumbles backwards. “He’s possessed.” Mark says. Then again, louder. “He’s been possessed. _Again_. Do you have a white marker?” He turns to Yukhei.

Yukhei rummages through the pen pot on his desk and tosses one in Mark’s direction. “Hold him down.” He says, and then he gets to work. 

Getting Donghyuck into the pentagram should be easy. Mark’s not alone – there are eight others around to manhandle him. It’s not easy at all though – Donghyuck kicks and screams and it takes Yukhei putting him in a headlock and Jeno grabbing his legs before they get him inside. Everyone looks petrified. Renjun looks close to tears. “What do we do now?” He asks.

Mark pulls out his phone and clicks on Johnny’s contact. They’d been messaging semi-regularly since that day in the library, enough for Johnny to be high on his recents. He presses call and waits.

“Mark?” Johnny answers.

“Donghyuck’s been possessed again.” Mark says.

“Send me the address.” Is all Johnny says before he hangs up. 

Donghyuck’s second exorcism is worse than the first. Johnny turns up with backup, Taeyong, Doyoung and Taeil, who Mark has met briefly before. They file in and send everyone out into the sitting room, even Mark.

“I’ll let you in as soon as we’re done, but I have a feeling this demon isn’t going to let him go without a fight.” Johnny says. “I don’t want any of you getting hurt. Or worse, possessed.”

It’s harrowing, sitting in a room able to hear your friend’s shouts but unable to do anything about it. Over an hour passes before Johnny emerges looking drained. “I’m taking him to the Institute to get checked out.” Johnny says. “I can fit two more people in my car, max. Who’s coming?”

Mark stands up immediately and he looks over at Renjun who nods. 

“Taeyong and Taeil will stay with the rest of you for a little bit longer.” Johnny says. He tosses Mark his keys. “Will you open the car?”

They ride to the Institute in silence. Johnny drives and Doyoung is in shotgun, with Donghyuck in the middle of Mark and Renjun. Donghyuck is awake, but only just. His head drops onto Mark’s shoulder and he takes slow shuddery breaths. Mark has one of his hands gripped tightly in his hands and Renjun’s holding the other.

When they get to the Institute’s infirmary, Johnny carries Donghyuck inside. The staff waste no time in getting him into a room, and they go round each of them, asking them to explain what happened. It takes Mark the longest - he tells them about the first possession and everything that had happened since so that they could figure out what the cause of all this could be. By the time he’s done, Renjun is asleep on Doyoung’s shoulder. Mark is about to take a seat next to Johnny, but Johnny stands, touching his hand to Mark’s arm gently. “Let’s go get some coffee.” Johnny says. “We’ll be here for a while yet, I think.”

Mark follows Johnny through the corridors until they reach one of the drinks machines. Johnny makes a drink for Mark first, passing it over before he makes his own. They sit down and Mark stares into his paper cup, like the dark liquid will tell him all the answers.

“How are you feeling?” Johnny asks.

“Like shit.” Mark says. “It’s been nearly a month since the first possession and I swear I’ve been paying attention. There was no chance for him to get possessed, not again.”

“Some demons are persistent.” Johnny says. “He might just have been waiting for your guard to slip.”

“Yeah I guess. Hopefully this is the end of it.” Mark sighs. “Ugh, we have to stop meeting like this.”

Johnny chuckles. “Well hopefully the Institute can figure out what’s going on and I won’t have to perform exorcisms on Donghyuck anymore.”

“Hopefully.” Mark nods. 

“It’ll be okay, Mark.” Johnny says. “Trust me.” And Mark does.

They keep Donghyuck overnight. Doyoung takes Renjun home but Mark stays camped out in the waiting room and Johnny stays by his side. One sleep study and round of questions later, the staff tell him it looks like Donghyuck had been getting possessed because he’s wearing himself thin.

“He sleeps in short bursts, stays up all night and runs on junk food.” The doctor in charge says. “We actually see this sort of thing quite a bit. Demons lurk around places like the Institute because it is the perfect feeding ground. Full of susceptible students they can take advantage of. I’m prescribing lots of rest and I’ve got a meal plan for him to follow. Lots of greens. Make sure he sticks to it, alright?”

Donghyuck looks up as they enter his room with a weary smile. “Guess I’m on house arrest, huh.”

“I’m not letting you out of my sight.” Mark tells him.

“Gross, I don’t want you to watch me peeing.” Donghyuck whines, but he opens his arms for a hug and Mark dives right into them.

When Mark pulls away, Donghyuck looks over at Johnny and smiles. “Thanks for saving my ass. _Again_.” 

“No problem.” Johnny says with a soft smile.

“And thanks for looking after him.” Donghyuck sticks his thumb in Mark’s direction. “He needs all the help he can get.”

“Gee, thanks Hyuck.” Mark rolls his eyes.

“Home time?” Donghyuck asks. He still looks pale and he’s moving slowly but he’s _Donghyuck_ again and that’s all that matters.

Johnny holds up his car keys. “I’ll go pull the car up to the front doors.”

As soon as he’s gone, Donghyuck raises his eyebrows. “He’s bi, he’s hot and he drives.” He says. “It’s like god wanted him to be perfect. You should jump on that, Mark.”

“How do you know he’s bi?” Mark asks, helping Donghyuck out of the bed. He ignores the last part, for the sake of his own sanity.

“I don’t know how you missed the cuffed jeans or, you know, the bi flag pin on his bag.” Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “Good god Mark.”

“Shut up.” Mark says weakly. He frowns. “He really has a pin on his bag?”

“ _Yes_.” Donghyuck laughs. “I can’t believe you.”

Donghyuck is still laughing when they reach the car.

“What’s so funny?” Johnny asks.

“Nothing.” Mark answers, shooting Donghyuck a look. It sets Donghyuck off all over again.

🌕🌕🌕

Two weeks into Operation Watch Donghyuck Carefully, Renjun and Donghyuck kick Mark out of the apartment. 

“I’m fine, and even if I wasn’t Renjun is here with me and he is perfectly responsible.” Donghyuck argues as he rushes Mark towards the door.

“I’ll make sure he eats well.” Renjun says.

“He sure will.” Donghyuck mutters under his breath. Mark is close enough to hear it and he wrinkles his nose.

“Gross guys.” He says, pulling on his shoes. “What am I even supposed to do?”

“Go see a movie, go shopping, get some food.” Donghyuck says. “I don’t know, anything. You deserve a night off from being my babysitter. That, and I’m sick of your face.” Mark rolls his eyes. Only Donghyuck would deliver affection with an insult.

“Alone?” Mark says. It’s not like he is opposed to doing any of those things alone, he’s done them before, but he doesn’t really _want_ to be alone.

“There is this thing called a mobile. You have one.” Donghyuck points to where Mark’s Android is sticking out of his pocket. “You use it to communicate with others. If you don’t want to be alone, you can text one of your many contacts and voila! Company!”

“Fuck you dude.” Mark sighs, taking his jacket from Donghyuck’s hand.

“Why don’t you text Johnny?” Renjun suggests. “Have you seen him recently?”

“No, I haven’t.” Between looking after Donghyuck and trying to juggle his final project and other school work, Mark hadn’t seen him in person. They weren’t texting as often either. Mark figured that maybe the ship had sailed. Your best friend gets possessed twice and suddenly you don’t really have time to think about getting to know someone. He was a little sad about it, but he would get over it. Eventually.

“Then message and ask if he wants to meet up.” Renjun suggests, swinging an arm over Donghyuck’s shoulders. Donghyuck cosies up to him, like a cat wanting attention and it’s cute. He’s glad something good has come out of all this.

“I don’t know…”

Donghyuck sighs. “Give me your phone.”

“Hyuck –” Mark doesn’t have time to argue. Donghyuck snatches Mark’s phone from his pocket and unlocks it – years of best friend privileges meant he knew the password off by heart and it's only in this moment that Mark realises Donghyuck has too much power – and taps out a message. He hums, handing the phone back over to Mark. “There,” Donghyuck says. “All done.”

Mark looks down to see his open chat with Johnny.

**[18:37] Hey are you free rn??**

Mark gives his thanks to whatever mystical force (Renjun) stopped Donghyuck from sending something more… to the point.

“Listen to me Mark Lee.” Donghyuck shrugs off Renjun’s arm to step forward and place both his hands on Mark’s shoulders. “You like Johnny.” He cuts Mark off before he can protest. “Don’t try to deny it, I can see it in your eyes. You like him and it’s great! He’s hot, cool and smart. And do you know what’s even better Mark?”

“I don’t know.” Mark sighs. “What?”

“He likes you too, you moron!” Donghyuck shakes him lightly. “He’s asked me about you multiple times! He thinks you’re cute! He was really worried about you after I got possessed the first time because I told him you were running yourself into the ground with stress – which, newsflash, you’ve been doing again which is why you haven’t seen him. For once in your life be selfish, Mark. Do something for yourself.”

Mark’s phone vibrates. 

**[18:43] Yeah I’m free what’s up?**

“Well there you go.” Donghyuck pats his shoulders before stepping back. “Go get your man, Mark.”

🌕🌕🌕

Mark meets Johnny outside a cushy little Chinese place on the edge of town. Johnny pulls up in his car (Mark doesn’t know what it is about the fact Johnny can drive that makes him go feral but he supposes it’s partially related to the fact he is solidly in the I’m A Gay Who Can’t Drive category. Also Johnny looks hot just existing so it makes sense that Johnny plus [insert activity here] makes him even hotter) and waves at Mark from across the car park as he approaches.

“Hey.” Johnny greets him. “You hungry?”

“Starving.” Mark admits.

“Let’s go inside then.”

Johnny looks good. Mark was just wearing what he had been earlier that day – jeans and a hoodie – having not had a chance to change before Donghyuck sprung everything on him. Johnny was dressed a little smarter, in black jeans, a white shirt and his signature leather jacket. He takes the jacket off when they reach their table and Mark’s eyes are drawn to the tattoos he can make out faintly beneath the fabric.

Johnny catches him looking, because _of course_ he does and he pushes up one of his sleeves with a smile so that Mark can take an actual look. There are runes and script in latin and it takes Mark a good few moments to decipher it. “Is that an anti-possession tattoo?” He asks.

“Yeah.” Johnny pulls down his sleeve. “Working primarily as an exorcist means it comes in handy. Maybe you should talk Donghyuck into getting something like this. My tattoo artist uses holy water infused ink. It works, you know?”

“I didn’t know but now I do.” Mark says and Johnny laughs. 

“How have you been, Mark?” Johnny asks once they’ve placed their order.

“Looking after Hyuck mostly. Making sure he’s okay.” Mark answers.

“I asked about _you_ not, Hyuck.” Johnny points out. 

Mark smiles sheepish. “Stumbling through everything, I guess. I’ve had a lot on my plate. Sorry I haven’t been messaging you.”

Johnny frowns. “You don’t have anything to apologise for, Mark. Life gets in the way.”

“Yeah, but I wanted to message you.” Mark says.

“Well you did, and we’re here now.” Johnny says. “I’m glad you did Mark. I wanted to try and get to know you more but the world wasn’t exactly working in my favour.”

“Well, we’re here now,” Mark repeats and Johnny smiles.

Johnny talks to Mark like they didn’t just spend the last two weeks exchanging pleasantries. Like things had been smooth all along. He asks more about Mark, about his friends and his family. Johnny answers Mark’s questions too. They talk until they are stuffed full of food, and when their plates are emptied Mark realises how good he feels. How _comfortable_ he feels. He needed this and he wanted it too. Donghyuck was right. It was good to be selfish sometimes.

Johnny pays (“My treat,” He says, with his winning smile, and Mark can’t really refuse) and they head outside towards his car. “Do you want me to drop you home?” Johnny asks.

Mark pauses. “I think I’ve been sexiled, actually,” He says. 

Johnny raises an eyebrow – his pierced eyebrow – and asks, “Then what are you going to do now?”

Mark shrugs. “Kill some more time? If I give them another hour or two, that should be enough, right? Maybe I’ll go see a film.”

“Or you could come back to mine.” Johnny suggests.

Mark freezes. Johnny is looking at him expectantly, waiting for an answer. “I don’t want to bother you…” Mark begins.

“Didn’t we just establish that I wanted to see you more?” Johnny asks.

“Well yes, but –”

“Then come home with me Mark.” Johnny says. “We can talk or watch a film and I’ll sleep on the couch and you can have my bed and I’ll drop you back at yours in the morning. I want you there. i wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”

“Okay.” Mark agrees.

Johnny’s apartment is cosy. It’s small, but he uses the space well. The bookshelves are filled with books, some titles Mark recognises and others he doesn’t. There are pictures all over the walls of Johnny and his friends, of an orange tabby (a childhood pet, Daisy) and different landscape shots. “I like to take photos.” Johnny says, pointing over to a bookshelf filled with camera equipment. 

“That’s cool.” Mark says. “Your entire place is cool.” The nerves were starting to get the better of him. They started to creep back on the car journey over as he thought about the fact he was going to Johnny’s place. That it would just be the two of them. None of their friends, none of the random strangers that had surrounded them when they had eaten. Just Johnny and Mark. Mark and Johnny.

“Thanks.” Johnny smiles at Mark. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Please.”

Mark ends up with water because he is a coward and knows that if he agreed to alcohol he would drink it way too fast and get tipsy and he didn’t want to be. He gulps it down as he watches Johnny lean up against the kitchen counter, sipping at his beer. 

“Mark.” Johnny says, and Mark blinks rapidly, realising he had zoned out. “You good?”

“Perfect.” Mark clears his throat.

Johnny looks at him for a moment before setting his beer down on the counter and running a hand through his hair. Mark shivers.

“Mark.” Johnny says again. Mark hums, and takes another sip of his water. “Can I kiss you?”

 _Be selfish_. Mark sets his glass down on the counter. There is nothing he would like more in the world than for Johnny to kiss him. “Yes,” Mark says, and Johnny sighs – with relief? Mark doesn’t know. They meet in the middle, Johnny taking one big stride across the kitchen to reach Mark. He cups Mark’s face with his hand and Mark feels his entire body flush because god, Johnny’s hands were so big, they covered his entire cheek.

Johnny leans down and Mark leans up, pushing up on his tip toes and grabbing at the front of Johnny’s shirt as their lips meet. Johnny takes it slow, lips gentle against Mark’s and Mark is so thankful for everything. For Johnny being so kind and caring and such a good kisser. For Donghyuck for giving him the push he always needs. For the goddamn demon that got them into this situation in the first place. Johnny pulls away and Mark chases after him wanting more, more, more.

Johnny lets out a quiet laugh. “Okay.” He says, and he leans in again.

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/seothsayers)


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